Restaurant in Birmingham, United Kingdom
Michelin-starred tasting menus, Tuesday–Saturday only.
Adam's holds a Michelin star and an OAD top-400 Europe ranking, making it Birmingham's most decorated fine-dining address. The kitchen delivers classical combinations — think quail with langoustine, chateaubriand with bordelaise — with technical precision, and the wine list carries no service surcharge on bottles or glasses. Book three to four weeks out minimum; dinner fills fast.
If you have eaten at Adam's once and are wondering whether a return visit holds up, the short answer is yes — with one caveat. The kitchen has cycled through head chefs over the years, and the current pairing of Adam Wilson and Simil Gurung has the cooking firing consistently. What does not change between visits is the structural elegance: the art-deco cocktail bar you pass through on arrival, the well-spaced bare-wood tables, the suited service team moving in careful formation. What does evolve is the menu's execution of classicism — familiar combinations delivered with enough technical precision to make the second sitting feel as considered as the first. For food and wine enthusiasts who want a serious night out in Birmingham without flying to London, Adam's earns its place at the leading of the city's fine-dining shortlist.
Adam's holds a Michelin star (2024) and sits at number 379 in the Opinionated About Dining Leading Restaurants in Europe ranking for the same year , credentials that position it comfortably alongside the upper tier of regional British fine dining, closer in ambition to Moor Hall in Aughton or Gidleigh Park in Chagford than to the neighbourhood bistro category. It is not reaching for the experimental register of The Fat Duck in Bray or L'Enclume in Cartmel, and that is a deliberate choice worth understanding before you book. The kitchen's approach is to take recognisable combinations and refine their execution rather than deconstruct them , quail with langoustine, chateaubriand with bordelaise, scallop with morel foam. The flavour profiles are classical in architecture, with technique doing the persuasion rather than provocation.
The wine list deserves particular attention for anyone serious about what is in the glass. The selection skews toward Bordeaux at depth, and the house policy of not charging a service surcharge on wine by the glass or bottle is genuinely unusual at this price point in the UK. The carafe page gives you an accessible entry if the full bottle list feels steep , expect most bottles to start above £50, but the carafe options provide flexibility without compromising quality. For wine enthusiasts, this alone separates Adam's from comparable Michelin-starred rooms where the markup is the story. If you want further context on Birmingham's broader food and drink offer, see our full Birmingham restaurants guide, full Birmingham bars guide, and Simpsons for a direct peer comparison in the same price bracket.
The room itself runs along an art-deco-cum-retro register: purple velvet bar stools, black-and-white tiled floors in the bar leading into a quieter, plainer dining room with bare wood tables. It is formal without being cold. The service team is mostly young, mostly suited, and operates with a deliberate professionalism that can read as po-faced depending on your expectations. This is not the relaxed, conversational service style you get at Hand and Flowers in Marlow, where the room loosens around you. At Adam's, the floor runs on choreography. Whether that earns the price point depends on what you value: if flawless, unobtrusive execution matters more than warmth, it delivers. If you want the team to make conversation and guide you through the menu like an enthusiastic host, the register may feel slightly stiff. Either way, the service is technically competent, errors are rare, and the pacing of tasting menus is handled well.
Format gives you a choice: five-course tasting menu, seven-course tasting menu, or à la carte. For a first visit, or for anyone revisiting to assess how the kitchen has moved on, the tasting menu format is the better decision , it shows the range of the kitchen's classicism and gives the wine list room to work. The à la carte is a reasonable fallback for those who find tasting menus too long a commitment, but the kitchen's strengths are most visible across multiple courses.
Adam's operates Tuesday through Saturday, with lunch sittings from noon to 2 PM and dinner from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. It is closed Sunday and Monday. Given the Michelin star and the relatively limited covers per service, booking difficulty sits at hard , plan at least three to four weeks out for dinner, and consider lunch if your schedule is flexible, as lunch slots tend to open up slightly later than weekend dinner. Adam's is centrally located on Waterloo Street, close to Birmingham New Street station, which makes it accessible for day trips from London or Manchester without needing to plan around transport logistics. For accommodation nearby, see our full Birmingham hotels guide. If you are planning a wider Birmingham trip and want to explore beyond fine dining, our Birmingham experiences guide covers additional options. For wine-focused travel in the region, the Birmingham wineries guide is also worth checking.
For context on where Adam's sits in the broader modern cuisine tier internationally, compare it with CORE by Clare Smyth in London at the higher end of the UK register, or internationally with Frantzén in Stockholm and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai as benchmarks for how the Michelin-starred modern cuisine category operates at its most ambitious.
The bar area is the entry point into the restaurant and functions as a cocktail bar before your meal. It is not confirmed as a space for full à la carte or tasting menu dining in the same way the main dining room is. If eating at the bar specifically matters to you, contact the restaurant directly before booking , the seating configuration may allow it for shorter visits, but the dining room is the intended setting for the full menu experience.
At the ££££ price point with a Michelin star and an OAD top-400 Europe ranking, Adam's delivers solid value relative to London equivalents at the same tier. You are paying for technical cooking, a wine list with no service surcharge on bottles or glasses (unusual at this level), and a formal room that runs well. Compare it to Simpsons in Birmingham at the same price band: both are serious fine-dining operations, but Adam's has the stronger awards profile currently. If you want to spend less, 670 Grams at £££ offers a creative alternative at a lower price point.
The database does not confirm specific dietary restriction policies. For any serious dietary requirement , particularly allergies , contact Adam's directly before booking. Given the tasting menu format and kitchen-led structure, advance notice is standard practice at this level of restaurant, and most Michelin-starred kitchens will accommodate with adequate notice.
Solo dining at a tasting menu restaurant in this price bracket is perfectly viable, and Adam's well-spaced tables make it a more comfortable solo experience than many rooms at this tier. The counter or bar area may offer an alternative seating option worth enquiring about. At ££££ per head, solo dining here is a considered spend, but for a food-focused solo traveller visiting Birmingham, it is the strongest single-meal option in the city.
Yes, for the format's strengths. The kitchen's classicism , quail and langoustine, scallop with morel foam, chateaubriand with bordelaise , reads better across five or seven courses than on an à la carte card, because the progression shows the range and the wine list has room to work alongside it. The seven-course option gives you more of the kitchen's technical breadth; the five-course is better if you find longer menus fatiguing. Neither format is the right choice if you want experimental or avant-garde cooking , for that, The Wilderness in Birmingham is the better fit.
Lunch is the better practical choice if booking difficulty is your concern , slots open later than prime-time Friday or Saturday dinner. The kitchen operates the same menu format at both services (Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 2 PM for lunch, 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM for dinner), so you are not trading quality for convenience. Dinner gives you more time to work through the wine list without the afternoon commitment. For a special occasion, dinner has the better atmosphere; for a food-focused visitor on a tighter schedule, lunch is the sensible call.
Yes , the formal room, the tasting menu format, the wine depth, and the Michelin-star credentials make it one of the two or three most credible special-occasion restaurants in Birmingham. The service style is choreographed rather than warm, which suits a dinner where you want things to run precisely rather than feel spontaneous. For a more relaxed special occasion in the same city, Opheem at ££££ offers a different register. For a lower-spend celebration, Riverine Rabbit at ££ is worth considering.
The database does not confirm a private dining room or specific group policy. The main dining room operates with well-spaced tables suggesting moderate capacity. For groups of six or more, contact Adam's directly to confirm availability and any minimum spend requirements , tasting menu restaurants at this price point typically have specific group booking protocols. Larger parties wanting a guaranteed private space should enquire well in advance given the booking difficulty rating.
Adam's has a cocktail bar with plush purple-velvet bar stools, but the venue data does not confirm full dining service at the bar itself. The bar functions as a reception and pre-dinner drinks space leading into the main dining room. If bar seating is a priority, contact Adam's directly via their booking channel to confirm availability before you visit.
At ££££ with a Michelin star (2024) and an Opinionated About Dining Top 400 Europe ranking, Adam's sits at the credible end of Birmingham fine dining — and the OAD recognition suggests it holds up against peer scrutiny, not just local comparison. The wine list skews expensive (most bottles above £50), but carafes are available and no service charge is added to wine. If your benchmark is London Michelin-starred pricing, Adam's will feel fair; if you're comparing to Birmingham's mid-market, it's a significant step up.
The venue data does not document specific dietary restriction policies. Given that Adam's runs structured tasting menus alongside à la carte, any dietary requirements are worth flagging at the time of booking rather than on arrival — kitchens at this level generally accommodate with advance notice, but the format makes last-minute changes harder to absorb.
The dining room uses well-spaced bare wood tables rather than a dedicated counter, which makes solo dining workable but not the natural format here. The cocktail bar offers an alternative entry point if you want a lower-commitment visit. For solo fine dining with counter seating built into the concept, compare with venues that specifically offer a chef's table format.
Yes, if structured tasting menus are your format. Adam's offers five- or seven-course options, and the kitchen's strength is technical execution of recognisable combinations rather than avant-garde risk-taking — you get refinement, not surprises. The à la carte option exists if you prefer flexibility, which gives Adam's more versatility than pure tasting-menu-only venues at this price point.
Both sittings run the same hours structure (noon–2 PM lunch, 6:30–8:30 PM dinner, Tuesday through Saturday), and the venue data does not indicate a separate lunch menu or reduced pricing at midday. Lunch at Michelin-starred restaurants in the UK often carries a shorter or lower-cost menu; confirm whether Adam's offers a lunch-specific format when booking, as it may represent better value if so.
Yes — this is one of the cleaner cases for booking Adam's. The art-deco dining room, Michelin-starred kitchen, and suited front-of-house team create a setting that reads as a formal celebration venue without requiring you to justify it. For Birmingham, it sits at the top of the occasion-dining tier alongside Opheem. Book dinner over lunch if the atmosphere matters as much as the food.
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